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Kuwait’s Ministry of Information recently conducted a raid against an engineering company in Kuwait City that was found to be using illegal software.

“Copying software without the maker’s approval and using unlicensed programs on your computer are against the law, and we will be conducting more action against perpetrators,” commented Sheikha Rasha Naif Al-Sabah, Director of the IPR department at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information.

Kuwait’s copyright laws are constantly updated to ensure that they cover all aspects of intellectual property and the Kuwaiti authorities, represented by the Ministry of Information and the Kuwaiti police, carry out constant awareness campaigns and enforcement action to ensure that the law is applied nationwide. Kuwait’s Minister of Information, HE Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah, has been actively promoting copyright implementation, and the IPR department was created specifically to fight copyright infringement throughout the State of Kuwait.

“The IT industry in Kuwait is vibrant and full of promise,” added Sheikha Rasha, “The Kuwaiti people are always up to adopting new technologies and developing new software for their market, thus, we have to make sure that local developers and legal software resellers who have invested in these products are not hurt by the trade in counterfeits”

The Ministry also works closely with local, regional and international software development companies to ensure that the education market is protected and that legal software is made affordable to students and educators. Many companies offer up to 97 per cent discounts to students in order to encourage them to purchase legal software, allowing access to upgrade versions of the products they purchase, as well after sales support, for almost the same price as an unsupported, often virus-ridden pirate copy.